In pictures: Cichanoŭskaja’s rally in Minsk draws tens of thousands

At least 63,000 people turned out for presidential candidate Sviatlana Cichanoŭskaja’s campaign rally in a remote park in Minsk on Thursday evening, according to the Viasna Human Rights Center.

The three-hour event took place in Nations’ Friendship Park, one of the few venues where the Minsk government has allowed presidential candidates to hold campaign rallies ahead of next month’s election. Attendees had to walk through metal detectors as authorities warned earlier that day that security at the venues of campaign events would be tightened following the arrest of more than 30 Russian mercenaries near the Belarusian capital.